1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling a musical medley function in a television incorporating a karaoke player. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for controlling a musical medley function in a karaoke television, wherein the medley function permits the user to select a minimum score or mark and a target number of challenging songs. Then the karaoke machine randomly plays selected songs in seriatim until the user's score falls below the minimum mark or the target number of songs have been completed. The medley function is executed only while the user's mark exceeds the target mark and the number of played songs is smaller than the target number of challenging songs. The medley function terminates when the graded mark is lower than the minimum mark or the number of played songs is the same as the target number of challenging songs. The medley function is provided as an enhancement to the simultaneous reproduction of video and background music of the karaoke television to stimulate user interest.
Korean Patent Application No. 93-12406 is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, television receivers are provided with an external signal input terminal for receiving video and audio signals from external apparatuses. These video and audio signals may be supplied from a video cassette recorder, a camcorder, or a karaoke player. The signals input via the external signal input terminals can be monitored using a cathode ray tube (CRT) and speakers. A user can select between a received television signal or an externally produced video and/or audio signals received via the external signal input terminals. The selection is made by manipulating an operation mode button installed on the television receiver or by operation of a remote controller for controlling the television receiver.
A karaoke player is a system provided with a television monitor for displaying word information accompanied by music. Such an apparatus can take several forms, the most common being LD player system incorporating laser disc player, a CDG player systems including a compact disc graphic player, and a computerized player systems using a memory.
LD player systems provide excellent video and sound quality. However, the number of songs recorded on a single laser disc is restricted to approximately thirty (30). Thus, a LD player system requires a disc changing apparatus, such as that found in a jukebox, in order to play selections from a large number of songs.
CDG player systems provide sound quality only slightly inferior to that provided by LD player systems. However, CDG player systems provide only a limited amount of still image information. This information is recorded on a sub-code channel of the compact disc, and the relation between the picture and music in the CDG player systems is lower than that of LD systems. Moreover, the number of songs recorded on the compact disc is restricted to approximately fifteen (15). Therefore, a disc changing apparatus similar to that found in LD player systems is required.
It is noted that the computerized player system cannot provide the excellent sound quality of the player systems discussed above. However, the computerized system is advantageous in that accompaniment-music and word information for 1,000 to 1,500 songs can be provide from memory. In addition, music selection can be performed at a high speed.
A system will be briefly described with reference to FIG. 1, which illustrates a high level block diagram of a computerized karaoke player using a memory. The system can be connected to both a general purpose monitor and an audio amplifier. The computerized system thus provides both a stereophonic accompaniment-music signal and word information in the form of characters.
When a specific song is selected in the system of FIG. 1 by means of a command input portion 1 and an accompaniment-music start signal is received, a controller 2 controls an accompaniment-music signal generator 3 to generate accompaniment-music for the designated song. At the same time, the controller 2 controls a character signal generator 4 to produce the lyric information for the designated song. An audio signal received through an audio input portion 5 is mixed with the accompaniment-music signal in a mixer 6 and is supplied to the audio amplifier through at least one audio output terminal. The output from the character signal generator 4 supplies lyrics to the monitor to allow the user to sing song along with the accompaniment music.
However, the above-described computerized karaoke player requires separate monitors for processing the accompaniment-music signal and word signal. An amplifier is also required. In other words, the user must purchase at least two kinds of apparatuses.
Furthermore, since the computerized karaoke player system has its own command input portion, the user must separately manipulate controls for the television receiver in addition to manipulating controls dedicated to the karaoke player system. This is inconvenient for the user.
In order to solve the inconvenience due to the separated computerized karaoke player system and the television receiver, it has been proposed that the computerized karaoke player be accommodated in the television set by including the video/accompaniment-music signal generating portion. This would allow the output of the karaoke player system to be processed and output through the conventional television monitor and amplifier. However, the proposed device still has a disadvantage, i.e., the karaoke/television system does not spark or hold the user's interest for long. The present invention is directed to a method for increasing the user's interest by challenging the user's singing proficiency.